Poor Little Authoress

There's a chapter in Little Women entitled "Literary Lessons" in which Jo decides to greatly shorten and simplify her manuscript in order to sell it. Making it more "sensational" and less realistic. Her father and Meg urge her not to change it, sure that all meaning of the story will be lost without the details. Her mother wants her to learn the lessons of criticism.

I had the biggest smile on my face when I read this chapter because the publishing industry hasn't changed. If anything, stories are even simpler and more sensational.